by Mitchell Cuevas on August 10, 2021

Much of the work the Stacks Foundation does revolves around supporting builders in the Stacks Ecosystem. We do this in many different ways, the one I want to focus on today is how we help amplify their story. Beyond the mechanics, which I’ll cover briefly, there are two less obvious aspects of these amplification efforts I’d like to cover in the interest of transparency:

When I refer to promoting, storytelling, marketing, amplifying, or similar throughout this post, I am referring to any number of activities that help projects gain users and/or awareness for their product or service such that they can grow. This typically includes activities such as:

• Press support, including coaching, pitching, and press releases feedback
• Introductions to influencers, media outlets, and other marketing services
• Inclusion in the Stacks Foundation newsletter
• Social media amplification
• Recommendations and referrals for speaking opportunities & strategic events
• Introductions to possible partners and ecosystem collaborators

Proactive teams
The first filter is quite simple: We often prioritize teams that ask and that are prepared! There is so much activity in the ecosystem, so we start by allocating resources to teams that proactively ask for help. Teams that come with their content ready, a desired schedule, and specific requests naturally get more support quickly.

To date, we’ve had more visibility into the progress of teams through the Stacks Grants program and the first Stacks Accelerator cohort. These teams have been fantastic about communicating launches and big news they’d like to amplify. For teams building on Stacks outside those programs, you’re no less eligible for support, just remember to ask! We have a large audience of builders eager to hear from you!

Teams leveraging the most unique aspects of Stacks
Next, we look for teams that are showing off the most unique capabilities of the Stacks network or that have a particularly accessible value proposition. It’s a sweet spot for us to align resources behind teams that fit within the broader themes or narratives we’re working on with reporters and in our own content at any given time. In 2021, these themes have included Bitcoin DeFi, Stacking, and clear connection points with Bitcoin.

Teams whose goals align with the resources we have
With Clarity Universe, our partners at Wachsman, and our talented and growing team, we’ve built a good set of resources Stacks builders can readily tap into. That said, we’re not a one-stop-shop for everything a team might need to grow. We typically first try to understand a team’s goals and then lay out for them the areas we’re able to best help. In the areas we don’t have a top-notch resource ‘in-house’, we do our best to make recommendations and introductions. The teams our resources are a better fit for, we’re naturally able to help more.

Teams that are value-aligned
Last but not least, we prioritize the teams that embody the values of Stacks. Admittedly, we’re not working from a clear-cut black and white matrix on this front (if you want to help us make one, please get in touch!). Here, we’re looking to make sure the application is built to protect the users data, privacy, and security. Specifically, we look to make sure none of the core Stacks infrastructure has been routed around to store data where it doesn’t need to be or other similar ‘watering down’ of the promise of a user-owned internet on Bitcoin.

It’s a responsibility as well as a privilege to be considered a source of information for the ecosystem. We are extremely grateful to those that follow one of the channels we curate and we take bringing you accurate and useful information extremely seriously. And while there’s no possible way we(or anyone else) can guarantee the efficacy, security, or otherwise of every project in the ecosystem, we can be careful about what we share with you.

In the past few months alone, the capacity to fact-check and verify is one we’re prioritizing, both in terms of processes and talent. You can expect continued growth on this front as we continue to learn. For now, here are the ways we try to ensure we’re bringing you the best possible information.

Tech Support
As much as we’re able, our team tries to offer direct feedback and help with the most complex aspects of any team or project’s infrastructure to help them best protect their users. This is obviously an effort that doesn’t scale, but we’ve been investing heavily in training more high-quality developers that are more than capable of creating safe, delightful products.

Audits requests/support
The upcoming launch of Clarity Universe will bring some colossal new resources to the Clarity audit game, but we’ve already been helping teams arrange both unofficial and official audits. We highly encourage any builder that deals with user’s money to get as many eyes on the code as possible and do extensive testnet work. Depending on the complexity of the application and the intended use case, we may even refuse to actively promote a project that has not done an audit with a qualified 3rd party.

For users, no amount of auditing is a substitute for doing your own research and taking every step you can to protect yourself when you using new applications. It pays to do some homework before you part with your money.

Partner vetting
Whether we have a formal partnership through the Stacks Foundation or simply see an organization independently integrate with the Stacks chain in some way, we do our best to vet partners. When the Stacks Foundation formally collaborates, we look deeply into the partner and project to verify the people who contact us are real, can make decisions, and are aligned with our values. Typically this involves asking for licenses to operate, checking references, collecting legal opinions, and extensive relationship building.

In addition to formal partnerships, we also do our best to identify and connect with the many organic integrations we see on the network. We’ve seen independent organizations ask for technical guidance or support, and we direct them to resources in that way. We also often amplify their message by announcing their contributions to STX in our channels.

Dogfooding
Wherever possible, at least one member of the Stacks Foundation team tries out any product or service before we actively amplifying. We’re often involved at the earliest stages of building/testing and are happy to help teams in this unofficial‘tester’ capacity. That said, we do not provide audits or stamps of approvals of our own, but it’s something we could consider down the road. In the meantime, we refer builders to other experts and testers wherever we can.

We are working to get more sophisticated about how we handle communications as the ecosystem grows. To that end, you may see the below disclaimer, a link to it on our site, or a similar version on content we publish. The disclaimer doesn’t mean the project or team can’t be trusted or is a scam, it simply means we want any potential user to do their own research and diligence. The Foundation is here to amplify the growth of the ecosystem and help surface interesting things being built on the Stacks blockchain. We follow the process outlined above, but encourage others in the community to support audits, fact-checking, and user testing for new products. We all benefit with more input on new ideas.

Our intention is to protect us and any user trying out a new product or service, so while we’re taking precautions on our promotion, it’s no substitute for your own evaluation. To accomplish both, we worked with our legal counsel to draft the full disclaimer here:

THIRD PARTY RELATED CONTENT DISCLAIMER. ANY POSTS AND THE INFORMATION SHARED BY THE FOUNDATION PERTAINING TO THIRD PARTIES (SUCH AS DEVELOPERS AND PROJECTS) ARE STRICTLY FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES. YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE SUCH CONTENT, OPINIONS, AND/OR DESCRIPTIONS PROVIDED AS TECHNICAL ADVICE, LEGAL ADVICE, FINANCIAL ADVICE, INVESTMENT ADVICE, OR REPRESENTATIONS IN ANY WAY REGARDING ANY LEGAL, TECHNICAL, FINANCIAL, OR INVESTMENT MATTERS. PLEASE EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN USING NEW APPLICATIONS AND FOLLOW BEST PRACTICES WHEN IT COMES TO USING AND PROTECTING YOUR ASSETS, SUCH AS REVIEWING OR DEMANDING 3RD-PARTY AUDITS, CODE TRANSPARENCY, AND A POSITIVE DEVELOPER OR DEVELOPMENT TRACK RECORD. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION, YOU SHOULD CONTACT THE THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS OR PROJECT REPRESENTATIVES DIRECTLY. IF YOU HAVE AN INVESTMENT-RELATED INQUIRY, YOU SHOULD SEEK INVESTMENT ADVICE FROM A LICENSED INVESTMENT ADVISOR. THE FOUNDATION STRIVES TO SUPPORT THE ECOSYSTEM BUILDERS FAIRLY AND OPENLY. THE FOUNDATION TAKES THIS RESPONSIBILITY AND PRIVILEGE CAREFULLY WITH ITS OWN FACT-CHECKING AND VERIFICATION PROCESS. HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A REPLACEMENT OF YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE. THE FOUNDATION HAS NOT TESTED OR AUDITED ANY THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS OR PROJECTS MENTIONED. ANY SUCH POST AND INFORMATION ARE NOT MEANT TO SERVE AS A STANDING ENDORSEMENT OF THE PERSONS OR PROJECTS BY THE FOUNDATION. PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT YOU ARE ENGAGING WITH THEM SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.